We'll Bet These Things Are In Your Southern Home
We’ll Bet These Things Are In Your Southern Home
Is that some vintage Pyrex we see next to your orange Tupperware tea pitcher?
Ever notice how we all take stock of our homes in January and February? The Christmas decor has been put away and it's still too cold to garden, so we tend to scrutinize our Southern home must haves—everything from our color choices and linens to our china sets and cast iron cookware. Don't even get us started on last year's outdoor cushions.
As Southerners across the region conduct their annual inventory, it occurred to us that there might be some basic commonalities—things we all have in and around our homes—so we polled our Facebook Brain Trust. Herewith, things you'll find in all Southern domiciles. (Let us know what we missed.)
An impressive collection of Pyrex casserole dishes in every conceivable size
Ditto Corningware
Ditto Tupperware.
Task-specific kitchen tools like corn cutters and shrimp deveiners
A seasoned cast iron skillet for making cornbread
A decorative container filled with seashells from the family's favorite beach, tastefully displayed in the guest bath
"The company towels," not to be confused with "the good sheets"
Monogrammed towels and pillowcases
A full set of iced teaspoons to match your everyday stainless and your silver pattern
Silver that was handed down through several generations
Hand-stitched quilts
(If Memaw didn't leave you any, just buy them at Cracker Barrel and tell everybody she made them.)
Multiple "fly swats"
Citronella candles on the porch
Mason jars for beverage glasses
Rivers of sweet tea
Wickles, Dale's, Golden Eagle, grits, and buttermilk
Coffee pot ALWAYS going
Oats/oatmeal in the wintertime (which taste so much better with some butter and sugar stirred in)
Lots of big plastic stadium cups, emblazoned with your team's logo
(When you had 5, you called it accumulation, but now that you have15, it's a cup collection.)
We do love our collections—Depression glass, milk glass, blown glass, china (we like patterns for every occasion), pottery, quilts . . .
Enough framed family pictures to cover every wall at Biltmore, including a large bridal portrait of Sissy hanging in the living room
Task-Specific Coolers: the condo cooler, the fishing cooler, the tailgate cooler . . .
A long row of hanging basket hooks on your front porch, ready and waiting for spring ferns
Some form of outdoor fire feature—fireplace, fire pit, etc.
Faded deck cushions you probably should throw away, but you store them instead "just in case we need them for something"
Bird feeders
Pet beds so plush that Queen Elizabeth would totally approve of them for her Corgis
Your grandmother's (FILL IN THE BLANK)
We'd sooner back-talk Mama than part with anything Memaw gave us.
One day, we tell ourselves, Chip and Joanna will move to our neighborhood, knock on our door, and offer to redo our home just because. It could happen.
